Crafty Cocktails is a new monthly cocktail subscription box based right out of Calgary! I’m more of a wine drinker than a cocktail drinker, I think mostly because 1) wine is easy – pop the cork & drink and 2) cocktails at restaurants these days are bloody expensive! However, one of the fun aspects of being a food blogger is I sometimes get the opportunity to try new things, some of which can take me out of my comfort zone. This is one of those times! I had a choice: gin or rye whiskey. That was an easy decision for me (yay rye whiskey!).
When you purchase your monthly cocktail subscription box online from Crafty Cocktails you can choose from a monthly, 3 month, 6 month or 1 year subscription. Shipping is included in the price which ranges from $60 to $75 per month, depending on the subscription you choose. Each box includes 3 recipes and the ingredients to make 4 servings of each recipe. All you have to do is purchase a 750ml (26 oz) bottle of the booze that goes with that box. All 3 recipes will use the same bottle of booze, and if you drink all 12 cocktails you won’t have any random bits of booze left hanging out in the cupboard.
What’s inside the box? Click here to find out!
The box comes with a few pieces of paper on top – read them! One of the pages includes a list of terms used in the recipes – if you don’t know what the words mean, how can you follow along? One of the pages includes a bunch of stuff you should read first. Making these cocktails isn’t something you should just jump right into if you’ve never made fancy drinks before. Read the document first, then read the recipes – basically, get yourself prepared. Make sure you have all the ingredients you need (e.g. BOOZE), bar tools, ice, and some nice glasses (please don’t be serving these out of red SOLO cups!). They very strongly suggest using store bought ice rather than the ice from your fridge’s ice dispenser or that gross crusty ice cube tray in your freezer. Store bought ice has little oxygen in it and melts more evenly within your drink, making for a better cocktail (I’ve already learned something new!).
If you’re still a little uneasy about how to make the cocktails they even provide how-to videos on their website, following the recipe cards and ingredients in your box. Now you can make delicious and pretty cocktails at home (for way cheaper than you can buy them at a restaurant!).
My Experience:
So, first of all, I followed the directions to use Canadian rye whiskey, choosing what I previously thought was a ‘cheap’ whiskey because I wanted to get a purely rye-based whiskey. Alberta Premium was highly recommended by the lady at the Co-op Liquor Store as a Canadian rye whiskey that has received a lot of praise. So, okay!
I didn’t buy ice because I honestly don’t have room in my freezer for a bag and I hate throwing out ice simply because it’s so bloody expensive these days. That being said, I usually keep my fridge ice maker off, so by turning it on for this special occasion, at least the ice was fresh!
By the time the three of us brought out the box of goodies we had already had some wine with supper… so, my photos are not that creative and neither was our styling of the drinks. It did take some effort to read the instructions, prep the ingredients and make the drinks, but it was also kind of fun and suspenseful!
We made the Alex Flemming and The Sittin’ Sideways. At 2 oz of rye each, 2 drinks were enough! I still have all the ingredients for the Taiga Sidecar in my fridge. It’s easy to get a new lemon for fresh squeezed lemon juice when I’m ready to make that drink.
The Alex Flemming had a punch to it – it burned the back of your throat just a touch. The pineapple habanero syrup and the ginger root would probably feel great if you had a cold! Out of the two that we made, this was my favourite. Don’t you love my glasses? Thanks to Home Outfitters shutting down I got them 60% off!
The Sittin’ Sideways carried the bitterness of the grapefruit, but lightened up with the blueberry lemon shrub and the lavender. We all thought the lavender was a unique and tasty addition. The only reason I didn’t love this cocktail as much as the first was simply because I don’t like grapefruit. I wonder what it would taste like with orange instead (I know, then it wouldn’t be a Sittin’ Sideways!)? By this point I wasn’t even getting creative with the photos 🙂
Summary:
If you are an entertainer or enjoy trying new cocktails in the comfort of your own home, this is a perfect option for you. The quality of the ingredients is top notch, the packaging is great, and the recipes and instructions are clear and easy to follow. The stories the company tells about the spirits and the recipes are very well written and entertaining. One of the neat things that this box provides is access to ingredients you wouldn’t otherwise have access to. I mean, most of us wouldn’t know where to get bee pollen, lavender and pineapple habanero syrup – certainly not at your local grocery store, that’s for sure!
Even if you don’t think you could drink a full 26oz bottle of booze in a month, you can keep the majority of the ingredients around for a while in the fridge and you could finish the recipes at your own pace (just purchase new fruits/veggies as required).
One of these Crafty Cocktail boxes (or a subscription!) would be a great gift for the person who has everything and likes to get a little bit creative in the kitchen. A subscription could be a great wedding gift for a more mature couple who doesn’t need anything for the house, and much more creative than an envelope of cash. If you’re a planner, you could purchase a box in time for a dinner party if you want to try something other than wine for a change.
Thank you to Crafty Cocktails for the opportunity to try your product!
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